There should be a warning label attached to this album warning of its ability to induce happiness. The squee urban setting mixed in with a before watershed thesaurus is intoxicating enough to defile even the most funeral of frowns. It’s everything a Great British Seaside holiday is and more, so much more.
The aptly titled Yes Please from Brighton indie kids Octopuses puts the history of alternative rock music under a stress test and proves that integrity wins over glamour, every time.
Swirling in their own direction this is a veritable attempt at epitomizing the most positive aspects of Brit Rock and giving it a familiar and yet unique voice. Defined by everything you might associate with BBC2, or to be more precise CBBCs’ choice in cartoons and their theme tunes, Yes Please is soft enough to mollify your Nan at Christmas. It’s nearly a love letter to knitted jerkins and Super Ted.
If you account for appropriating the sounds of Blur and messing with that to incorporate Franz Ferdinands’ musical phrasing as typical then you can easily grasp the coalition of influences that make this a very British affair. Don’t expect sunshine but do be prepared to buy ice-creams.
8/10
